Flashback
by HONK HONK AND Glow Frog Kyrna
Summary: So XANA erased their memories, but the problem is that they still remember a little. Old friends visit and suddenly things get back to how crazy they were the first time. Part 4. The final part.


**Glow: I apologize profusely for taking so long to get this up. I believe it has been almost a year. AHHHHH! Anyway, where we left off. Simply, XANA erased  
****their memories. (Muah ha ha ha!) And their lives have gone down the tubes. Anywho, if you don't understand a word of what I just said, you might want to read the previouos three stories: Another!, Back to Life, and The Origin System. Or if you just can't remember. **

Flashback

Chapter 1: Strange Habits

Odd found himself staring down a cankerlet. Not much of a challenge, he thought. After all, he'd, what had he done? Finished his homework? That had to be it. He'd actually finished his homework and he felt like he could take on the world. XANA was stepping up his attacks and the gang had been kept on their toes. This particular disaster, involving the nuclear power plant outside town, was one that felt easy enough to stop.

Nearby, Ulrich and Yumi were facing off a mega tank. Aelita waited behind a tree, staying out of the fighting as usual. From the side swept in a crab, and Ulrich and Yumi reacted strangely. Working together, as a team, she flipped him up on top of the crab. Ulrich stabbed XANA's symbol and the crab exploded. The two of them looked at each other, this wasn't something they had ever practiced, although it had come as naturally as if they had worked on it for months.

With a derisive flick of the wrist, Odd destroyed the cankerlet. It was almost too easy to destroy XANA's minions now. He wondered what XANA looked like. After all, they'd never seen him. "Come on Aelita, coast's clear!' he called. Aelita ran from behind the tree and into the tower. They knew return to the past trips gave XANA power, but with an impending nuclear disaster, it was necessary. Odd tugged his ear, a habit he'd developed since he'd woken up one day with his ear pierced. It was strange; whatever crystal it was made of, he suspected it was a form of amethyst, stayed even when he virtualized.

Jeremy was looking into the properties of amethyst and how they pertained to virtualization, but so far, none of their tests had shown the strange phenomenon of his earring. He supposed he could stop wearing it. Ulrich and Yumi hadn't worn their necklaces since the day they'd found themselves wearing them. Aelita didn't wear her bracelet either. And Jeremy, well Jeremy didn't come into the virtual world. He couldn't.

Odd closed his eyes. A flash of purple crossed his eyelids. His eyes flew open. There was nothing there. -Oh well- he thought. It doesn't matter because any second Aelita will send us back to the past. Sure enough, there came the flash of light and he was back where he'd started this morning, laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. This returning to the past thing could wear a person down, he mused, as he got up to start the day all over again. And it had started pretty well the first time. There was little hope it would start well this time. Kiwi was still asleep as Odd hauled himself off the bed. He was tempted to just fall right back asleep on the floor and just miss the whole day. The days at Kadic were long enough without having to replay them again with no sleep in between.

That must be XANA's plan, he thought, he wants to wreck my GPA so I get kicked out of Kadic and can't bother him anymore. He laughed. That was rich, an evil supervirus trying to ruin his GPA. All it would really take is a glitch in the grading software and things could go wrong. Later, at breakfast, when he mentioned his little joke to the rest of the gang, they just groaned and changed the topic. -She would have laughed- he thought angrily, although he still had never figured out who "she" was. He'd often find himself thinking things like "she would have liked that, she wouldn't have stood for that, she would have fallen asleep too". It was almost as if this she had died. But he couldn't think of anyone he knew that had died. The only girls he really knew were Yumi and Aelita. And neither of them appreciated his sparkling sense of humor.

Sunk deep in his melancholy, he failed to hear the teacher call his name during first period. Grumbling silently at the whole world, he did not notice the teacher approach, livid at his lack of attention. "Odd!" she shouted as she slammed his book down on the table in front of him. Odd jumped. "Your grade is not nearly good enough in my class for you to not be paying attention!" The class laughed. Odd turned red. It wasn't his fault he'd already heard the lecture and had already paid attention once before. "I'm moving you to the front of the class, Mr. Della-Robia, and I expect to see you paying attention!" Odd grabbed his bag, ignoring the looks from Jeremy and Ulrich. He shuffled to the front, sliding heavily down into the chair right in front of the teacher. No more quick naps. And on top of that, the gang would yell at him at lunch because they were supposed to be staying out of trouble. Odd forced himself to stay awake, listening to the teacher drone on. Of course, though he gave the appearance of paying attention, he didn't register a single word the teacher said. He wrote down the homework (again) and wished he didn't have to do it all over again. This school was making him crazy.

The rest of the day passed just as redundantly and did not improve. By dinner, Odd was worn out. He hadn't managed to get through any of his classes without getting into trouble. His normally genial manner absent, he ripped into his food, taking out his anger on the innocent spaghetti. The others were in similarly bad moods, even Yumi, who had gone home early with a headache. Odd mused that none of them had been right since that one weird day. -I'm musing- Odd thought with a smile -What a joke. I don't think.- He shared this with the rest of the gang and they all laughed, glad to have something to break the tension. But the laughter was only shallow laughter.

The rest of the school had noticed as well. Even Sissi had been avoiding Ulrich lately. He tended to get snappy with anyone outside the gang. He'd almost sent poor Millie and Tamiya running off crying, but had relented and apologized for losing his temper. For them, he made a special effort to be nice. But he had no patience for Sissi. Odd turned to the empty seat next to him and opened his mouth to speak. Then he realized no one was there. He frowned.

It was a weird habit. Whenever he tried to analyze it too much, his brain hurt. He felt like he was pushing his way through Jello, unable to find what he was looking for. He felt like he had forgotten something important, but couldn't, for the life of him, remember what it was. Odd was naturally forgetful, so he supposed that it was just some huge project he'd forgotten in all the double days he'd been living. -It'll probably get me into trouble- he thought with a sigh. It was going to be one of those things he'd wish he'd have dealt with early, while he still remembered it.

"I'm gonna turn in," he told the rest of the gang, giving a huge yawn. He was tired. 48 hour days were not good for him. He left the cafeteria, kneading his forehead, hoping to figure out what the project might be for. All he could get was a feeling it had something to do with computers. Glum, he opened the door to his room and lay on the bed. He didn't even bother changing clothes. XANA was liable to attack tonight and it never hurt to be prepared. He drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

"_Are you alright? You look like you're in pain." A female voice. A nice female voice._

_Odd felt himself smile. "I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."_

"_Well, if it hurts that much, don't do it."_

"_I just figure I should use my stunning intelligence once in a while. Just to stretch my muscles."_

"_There's actually something under that hair?"_

"_Hell, yeah! Whaddya think the hair is for? It's to provide the extra room needed for my massive brain."_

_Laughter. "Massive due to atrophy, I suspect."_

"_Ha ha. I could out think you any day."_

"_And out sleep me, too."_

The door opening woke Odd from his dream. Ulrich walked into the room. "What's with you?" Odd sat up, rubbing his eyes. It had been a strange dream; all he could here were voices, one of which was his own, but there was no visual accompaniment. "Odd? Are you okay?" The concern in Ulrich's voice was apparent.

"Yeah, just had a really strange dream."

Ulrich kicked off his shoes. "You can't have been asleep that long. No more than five minutes I'd say." He sat on his bed and leaned back. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Odd laughed. "Well, considering I've been living the whole week twice, I'd say I'm doing grand." He dropped his smile. "It just feels weird 'ya know? Redundant. Like my life's not going anywhere."

"Yeah," echoed Ulrich. "Well, I'm sorry I woke you up. You look like you could sleep for a month."

Odd lay back down and closed his eyes. The dream had given him the same feeling as reliving the school days. He wanted to bang his head against the wall and scream. He felt like he was in an endless loop. At least the other students didn't have to remember that they were living their days multiple times. He was sure they had the same feeling as him, but at least they didn't have anything to pin it on, and so they pushed it to the back of their minds and ignored it.

"Hey Odd," Ulrich started awkwardly, then cut off as if he couldn't find the right words to ask the question with. Odd opened his eyes and looked over at his friend.

"You're wondering about Yumi, aren't you?" Odd didn't know where the thought had come from. As far as he knew, nothing was happening between them, even now that Sissi was staying away.

"Um, yeah. What do you think I should do?"

"Do about what, Romeo?"

Ulrich blushed. Just as Odd had planned. It was in his nature. He couldn't help needling everyone. And besides, he had limits. A lifetime of joking around had left him with a clear idea of what was too far.

"Well, you know," Ulright mumbled.

Odd did know. "Well, if you really want to know what I think…" He paused dramatically. "I think you should hurry up and ask her already. You guys are practically dating. The only difference is that you're too chicken to ask her."

Ulrich seemed a little relieved. "But there's just never the right time. And the way things stand now, well, I thought maybe she didn't like me anymore."

Odd raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Oh, she likes you alright. I mean, you both have a half of a heart necklace. And even if you have _no idea_ where they came from, their meaning is clear as day." He still thought that they had some idea where the necklaces had come from, a feeling he made clear in his tone.

"I suppose."

"Come on. Just wear it. At the very least, it'll look nice. Or are you afraid that wearing a necklace makes you too girly?" The taunt did what it was supposed to.

"Odd!" Ulrich threw his pillow at his roommate.

Odd couldn't stop laughing. He threw his pillow at Ulrich.

"Don't you know that real men never look girly," Ulrich said as he dodged, trying hard not to laugh and failing.

The sound of their phones vibrating could barely be heard above their laughter, but because their ears were so attuned to the sound, they caught it. "XANA," Odd sighed. –How I'd love to use that guy as a bouncy ball!- He frowned. That comment made no sense. But it was funny for some reason. He felt sure that if he'd have spoken it aloud, Ulrich would have laughed too. But it was too late, Ulrich was done pulling his shoes on and heading out the door.

"C'mon Odd. Let's get this thing wrapped up so we can get some sleep."

"Mmm, sleep sounds good. I hope this is one of those times we can use a return to the past."

Unfortunately, it was not to be. XANA's infiltration was minor, just a simple hack into the school network, no real damage done. So after a mostly sleepless night as a result, Odd felt ready to collapse. He had now officially gone without sleep for at least 36 hours, even if everyone else could only remember 24 of them. He wasn't the only one with problems. Jeremy was having trouble as well, despite the fact that he spent many nights without sleep anyway. The whole gang could feel themselves wearing down.

"It's like XANA is doing it on purpose. Major attacks in the mornings, minor attacks at night, so we don't get any sleep," Odd complained at lunch. He was in a foul mood, having received detention already. He'd forgotten about, and hadn't had the time to do anyhow, his homework from the day before. Fuming silently to himself, he thought - It's not like I didn't do it. I just forgot I hadn't done it this time. But I can't exactly tell the teacher that. 'Oh teacher, I did the homework in another past so I forgot about it this time.' Yeah, that would go over well.-

"I think you have a point Odd," Jemery replied.

"I knew you guys wouldn't take any notice of - wait, what did you say?" Odd asked, response flying out of his mouth before he had registered the answer.

"You have a valid point. XANA's attacks are timed excellently. And if you don't watch yourself, your grades are going to get you kicked out. I know you said that before and the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. He's really trying to get rid of us. He must be planning something big."

"Why me first? Do you think XANA's got a grudge against me or something?" He couldn't think why, but he could have sworn that XANA did. At least, it felt like he did. "I mean, I'm not his greatest adversary or anything like that, but it is possible you know."

The gang looked a little skeptical. "No Odd, I think it just seems that way because you have the worst grades of any of us." Jeremy smiled. "But now we know what he's doing, we can prepare. I bet that if we are nice to the nurse, and tell her we've got insomnia or something like that, she'll let us sleep in the infirmary during the day and as a plus, we can get out of class."

"I bet I could play sick for up to a week," Yumi said thoughtfully.

"I don't think the nurse would believe that all of us are sick at the same time, but we could sleep in shifts," Aelita said.

"Me an' Ulrich can spend shifts on the night ones and repeat days as well. That way we both get sleep and the nurse won't remember it." Odd smiled, feeling happier than he had in months. Sleep was a wonderful thing.

"I know the nurse would let me come in during gym class and nap. And if I go in looked pale and tired, which I do most of the time, she'll let me sleep," Jeremy said.

"I'm sure my teachers wouldn't mind me sleeping in class," Aelita said, figuring she could play teacher' pet for a little while.

"Lucky," mumbled Odd. -Man, I wish I had those teachers!-

"So we're set then. Let's stop XANA in his big plan," Jeremy finished, putting his hand in the middle of the table. The others piled their own hands on top and they did a silent cheer.

As sure as clockwork, the next morning, bright and early, the alarm for XANA went off. This was going to be a big one. Odd had taken to sleeping in his clothes, so he was out of his bed and down the hall before Ulrich. However, by the time he reached his skateboard, Ulrich had caught up.

Down in the factory, Jeremy was busy tracking down the tower. He barely noticed when Ulrich and Odd arrived. "Yumi got stuck at home. She won't be joining us. Let's get a move on then, shall we?" The two boys headed down to the scanners, where Aelita was already waiting. Jeremy virtualized them.

The desert was quiet and empty when the three of them landed. None of XANA's monsters were lying in wait. Odd scanned the horizon suspiciously. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nothing but the glowing tower nearby.

"Uh, Jeremy? What's going on?" Ulrich asked, sword out and ready.

"I have no idea. I don't see anything."

"I don't like this," Aelita said nervously. "I don't like this at all."

Privately Odd agreed. It was too strange to be good. "Let's get this over with, then."

"Why are there four of you down there?" Jeremy asked.

"There's only three of us," Ulrich replied.

"Some genius you are," Odd shouted up at Jeremy. He started to take a step forward when he felt a shadow slide over him. Tucking in and rolling away reflexively, he caught a glimpse of the attacker. Humanoid, with wings. It was all somehow familiar. SHINK! Five glistening black spikes hurled into the ground where he had been. -Poisoned- he thought. He backflipped up and whirled around to face where it had been. The skies were empty.

"Um, run!" he called to Ulrich and Aelita. The three of them took off, fairly flying across the sand. In front of them suddenly popped up a mega tank. Diving to the side, they dodged its first blast narrowly. It turned to face Aelita. Charging up, it targeted her. Panicking, she held out her hands to stop it, realizing at the same time there was no way she could stop it. As she did, her fingers brushed the strange ripples on her skin, releasing a wave, almost like a sound wave, that tore up the ground, and the tank, in front of it.

Aelita blinked. She'd never done that before. Odd and Ulrich stared at her. That was new. Aelita wasn't as defenseless as they had supposed. A shadow crossed over them. The flying thing was back.

"Ulrich look out! It's coming for you!" Jeremy said frantically. Ulrich blocked another set of black spikes from the creature with his sword. With a screech, it vanished again.

"Jeremy what was that?!" Ulrich yelled irritably.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it came up as a friendly. My guess is XANA found a way to trick the computer somehow. I'll have to figure it out later. For now, let's just get this thing over with."

Nodding, Aelita ran to the tower. Keeping one eye on the sky as she ran, she prayed the creature would not come back. Odd and Ulrich followed, keeping a little behind her.

"I don't like just calling it 'it'," said Odd. "So whaddya think we should call it?"

Ulrich thought for a moment. "Pirate," he said, at the same time as Jeremy.

"Yeah, that fits. How, I have no idea. But the three of us can't be wrong in our impressions. And Jeremy didn't even see it. Pirate, yeah." -But why not 'eagle' or 'hawk' or 'raptor'? Why 'pirate'? Why is that the impression we all get?-


End file.
